Black students in Windsor-Essex embrace event honouring culture, arts

Hundreds of local students gathered for an event Tuesday celebrating Black culture and creativity.

The Greater Essex County District School Board hosted its second annual Black Joy – Black Excellence Student Symposium at the St. Clair Centre for the Arts.

"It's only once in a lifetime that you get to have something like this, everyone come together under one roof to really enjoy and celebrate something that you can't really do anywhere else," said Jalen Hamilton, a grade 12 student at Kennedy Collegiate Institute.

Hamilton was among the more than 500 students the school board said would attend the "Express Yourself"-themed event.

"Our students asked for something to be done this year in the format of arts and movement and theatre and different things like that, so we made sure that that happened," said high school teacher Natalie Browning-Morgan.

Browning-Morgan, who serves as the board's graduation coach for Black, African and Caribbean students, said last year's inaugural event was smaller and focused on speaking with students about what was happening in their schools.  

But this year's symposium featured spoken word poetry, art, dancing and a resource fair, among other things. "The students need to hear the positive things about what it means to be Black, African, or Caribbean and we're just enjoying that," she said. 

Hamilton said the event was "on a whole different level" compared to last year.

"We have so many more guests, so many more kids here that can finally express themselves thoroughly," he said. "It's a night and day difference." 

Alaa Ebrahim, a Grade 11 student at Riverside Secondary School, said this year's event was much more student-led. "Everything altogether just really made this event this year so much better because the student voice is really heard," she said.

Ebrahim, one of the event's emcees, said it's important for younger students to "get the chance to see themselves in places that they might not see themselves normally."

One of the symposium's other highlights was a fashion show that included both casual and cultural attire. Hamilton, a model in the show who got to wear his own pieces, called it "absolutely incredible."

Hamilton, who was also a keynote speaker for the student panel, said Tuesday was about embracing the positive. 

"For a very long time, people that have looked like me haven't had the opportunity to fully express themself due to our very, very tainted and dark history," he said. 

"But today is the day to not even highlight that, but to highlight what joy can come, what happiness can come, what empowerment we can bring to the youth."

For more stories about the experiences of Black Canadians — from anti-Black racism to success stories within the Black community — check out Being Black in Canada, a CBC project Black Canadians can be proud of. You can read more stories here.